The present invention relates to an improvement made to a connector, and more particularly to a connector that can be quickly manufactured and assembled without the need of soldering and is therefore completely free from any short circuit at contact points thereof.
Most of the connectors currently widely used with computers and/or video products include a steel case and a plastic body. The steel case houses a front part of the plastic body. Upper and lower rows of insertion terminals are provided to project from front surface of the plastic body.
Rear ends of these insertion terminals are individually connected to corresponding leads in a whole bundle of interconnecting conductors by soldering. This type of connector is difficult to manufacture due to the inconvenient and time-consuming soldering operation for individual insertion terminals. When such type of connector is to be used with a desktop computer, it usually has a volume big enough for it to be manufactured without too much difficulty. However, when it is to be used with a notebook computer, LCD, etc., it must have a reduced volume that would inevitably cause difficulty in soldering individual leads to insertion terminals. Much more time is needed for soldering while short circuit might very possibly occur at soldered joints.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are disassembled perspective and partially sectional top views, respectively, of a conventional connector developed to solve the above-mentioned problem existing in the connectors of early stages. As shown, the conventional connector includes a steel case 1, a plastic body 5, and an insertion body 6. The steel case 1 houses a front part of the plastic body 5, and the insertion body 6 is assembled to the plastic body 5 by inserting it to a rear end of the plastic body 5. Upper and lower rows of alternately arranged insertion terminals 51 are provided at front surface of the plastic body 5. The plastic body 5 has two rearward extended side walls 52 each of which has a guiding rail 53 formed at an inner surface thereof. And a retaining hole 54 is formed in each guiding rail 53 at suitable position. The insertion body 6 is formed on top and bottom front surfaces with a plurality of terminal slots 61 corresponding to the insertion terminals 51 on the plastic body 5 and on two lateral side surfaces with two protrusions 62 corresponding to the retaining holes 54 in the guiding rails 53 of the plastic body 5. When the insertion body 6 is assembled to the rear end of the plastic body 5 via the two guiding rails 53, rear ends of the insertion terminals 51 are inserted into their respective corresponding terminal slots 61 on the insertion body 6. Moreover, partitioning ribs 63 are provided between rear ends of adjacent terminal slots 61 and separating strips 64 are provided at a rear end of the insertion body 6 corresponding to the partitioning ribs 63 with a receiving recess 65 transversely extending between the corresponding partitioning ribs 63 and separating strips 64.
There are interconnecting cables 7 connected to a rear end of the connector and each includes multiple conductors 71 that are spaced corresponding to the insertion terminals 51 and fixed in place by clamping them between two clamping pieces 73 that are then set in the receiving recesses 65 with bared front ends 72 of the conductors 71 projecting from the clamping pieces 73 into the terminal slots 61 to contact rear ends of the insertion terminals 51 in the terminal slots 61 between the partitioning ribs 63. The bared conductors 72 and the insertion terminals 51 can then be electrically connected by soldering at a time. When the insertion body 6 is inserted into the plastic body 5 before the soldering, the rear ends of the insertion terminals 51 are located at middle portion between adjacent partitioning ribs 63 and the bared front ends 72 of the conductors 71 are projected from adjacent partitioning ribs 63 to locate above the rear ends of the insertion terminals 51 in the terminal slots 61. Therefore, the soldering for connecting the insertion terminals 51 and the bared ends 72 of the conductors 71 can be done easily.
Although the above-described connector is good for use, it still has following disadvantages:
1. The clearance between two adjacent bared front ends 72 of the conductors 71 is so small that it is inevitable short circuit will dangerously occur at some points when the bared front ends 72 are connected to the rear ends of the insertion terminals 51 by soldering, particularly in a tin solder wetting step during the soldering. To avoid such possible short circuit, highly skilled soldering workers are required that would increase the manufacturing cost of the connectors. Moreover, signal transmission efficiency would be adversely affected due to such possible short circuit. PA1 2. The bared front ends 72 of the conductors 71 are located above the rear ends of the insertion terminals 51 without seated in the terminal slots 61. Therefore, the bared ends 72 tend to shift and deviate from their original position in a pressing step during the soldering. This deviation of the bared ends 72 from position will also cause short circuit and accordingly difficulty in quality control of the connectors.
It is therefore desirable to develop a connector that can be easily produced without the step of soldering the conductors and the insertion terminals, so that the connector can be more quickly produced and the possible short circuit at soldered joints can be avoided.